[CF-metadata] missing_value vs. _FillValue

From: Jonathan Gregory <j.m.gregory>
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2003 08:35:04 +0000

Dear All

I think Brian's argument is a good one that we can't rely on a distinction of
function between _FillValue and missing_value in practice. Although it might
be nice to distinguish between data accidentally and purposely unwritten from
the point of view of documentation, you will treat them the same way so we can
manage without the distinction.

I would suggest we might replace the paragraph starting "The missing_value
attribute" in 2.5.1 with a new version (in CF-1.1!)

The attribute missing_value is not treated in any special way by the netCDF
library or conforming generic applications. We do not recommend its use, but
this standard recognizes it for compatibility with COARDS and any specific
applications which do have a particular interpretation for it. The
missing_value attribute can be a scalar or vector containing values indicating
missing data. These values should all be outside the valid range so that
generic applications will treat them as missing.

Cheers

Jonathan
Received on Thu Nov 06 2003 - 01:35:04 GMT